Project Liberty and The People's Bid for TikTok Respond to Supreme Court's Decision to Hear Appeal on New National Security Law Mandating TikTok Divestiture

NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the Supreme Court's announcement today that it will hear TikTok's case seeking to strike down the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, Frank McCourt, Founder of Project Liberty and the catalyst behind The People's Bid to acquire TikTok, released the following statement:

"Once the Supreme Court has the opportunity to review the facts at hand, we fully anticipate the Court will reach the same conclusion – that under law, TikTok will need to be sold or shuttered. To be clear, Project Liberty doesn't want to see TikTok banned; we simply want it to be better. The People's Bid offers a clear path forward: migrate this vibrant community to an American-made tech stack that gives people control of their data and embraces a transparent approach to content recommendation and moderation. This is the best way to address Congress' national security concerns, protect Americans' data and content from unwanted manipulation, and preserve access to TikTok."

The People's Bid for TikTok aims to purchase the platform and migrate users to a new internet architecture that gives users control over their digital lives and more access to the economic value they generate. As stewards of the app, Project Liberty will work to ensure the platform remains a vibrant and diverse creative community where users can have complete control over their data. The People's Bid has secured expressions of interest of over $20 billion in capital, a vast network of supporters, and the technology needed to protect the privacy of 170 million Americans using TikTok.  

Launched in 2019, Project Liberty builds solutions that help people take back control of their digital lives by reclaiming a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Last May, Project Liberty announced The People's Bid for TikTok with the backing of Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking and capital markets business of Guggenheim Partners, and Kirkland & Ellis, one of the world's largest law firms. The bid has also attracted a deep bench of supporters from across policy, technology, and civil society spheres, including  Jonathan Haidt, renowned social psychologist and author of New York Times bestseller "The Anxious Generation," Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of Inrupt, and Director of the open-source protocol, Solid; David Clark, Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; Spencer Cox, Republican Governor of Utah and Outgoing Chair of the National Governors Association; Maria Schneider, Grammy Award-winning Musician, California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, and a large coalition of parents whose children have been harmed by social media.  

ABOUT PROJECT LIBERTY  

Project Liberty is leading the movement to give people back control of their lives in the digital age by ensuring they have a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Started in 2019 and publicly launched in 2021 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt and supported by a $500-million commitment, Project Liberty includes the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH in Zurich, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technological team that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Project Liberty's activities include the release of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is stewarded by the Institute and available as a public utility to serve as the bedrock of a more equitable web and support a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good. 

SOURCE Project Liberty